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No. 8 Softball Heads To Arizona

UP NEXT:The eighth-ranked Washington softball team (40-13-1) heads to Arizona to complete its Pacific-10 schedule vs. the No. 15-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils and No. 1-ranked Arizona Wildcats. The Huskies will play at ASU on Friday, May 9 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net with a tape-delayed show being distributed to the Regional Networks on Sunday at 11 a.m. UW will then play a doubleheader at Arizona on Saturday, May 10 at 6 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY: The Huskies lead the all-time series against Arizona State, 32-10, including a pair of one-run ballgames this season (2-1, 1-0). Sarah Hyatt hit a two-run home run on the sixth inning en route to the 2-1 victory, while Megan Owen scored on an illegal pitch in the 1-0 win. UW trails Arizona in the all-time series, 13-39 and lost a 3-0 game in Seattle last month. Last season, the Huskies took two games from the Wildcats (3-1, 3-2) at Husky Softball Stadium to close out the Pac-10 schedule.

COACH WILSON: In 11 seasons as the head coach at UW, Teresa Wilson has led the Dawgs to two Pac-10 championships, nine NCAA Regionals and two second place finishes at the College World Series. Her overall UW record stands at 525-195-1 (.729) and she is 729-356-1 (.671) all-time. Before becoming the Husky head coach in 1993, Wilson served as the head coach at Minnesota for two seasons (1990-1991) and at Oregon for four seasons (1986-89). All totaled, Wilson has coached 24 All-Americans, 69 all-conference selections and 50 academic all-conference honorees. A 1983 All-American pitcher for Missouri, she is joined by assistants Scott Centala and Steve Dailey.

LAST WEEK: The Huskies lost Pac-10 games to UCLA (11-0), Oregon State (4-2) and a pair to Oregon (6-5(8)/ 6-5) last week. Three players hit above the .400 mark, including Rita Roach (.444), Amanda Oleson (.400) and Kristen Rivera (.400). Oleson led the team with six hits and four RBIs. Jaime Clark notched her 228th career RBI to become Washington's all-time leader and move into the No. 8 spot on the NCAA all-time chart.

CAREER RBI RECORD: Jaime Clark hit her 68th career home run versus Oregon on May 4 for her 228th career RBI. She now tops the Washington all-time chart and ranks eight on the NCAA career list. Former Huskies Jen Cline (1993-96, 227 RBIs) and Michelle Church (1993-96, 225) rank ninth and 10th on the NCAA list.

A PAIR OF ACES IN THE CIRCLE: Washington is the only team in the Pac-10 with two 15+ game winners and two pitchers with 150 or more strikeouts. Junior Tia Bollinger is 22-9 with a team-high 181 strikeouts and boasts a 1.50 earned run average. Sophomore Ashley Boek is 17-4 with 163 strikeouts and has a 1.92 ERA.

TV TIME: Washington's game at Arizona State on May 9 will be televised on FOX Sports Net. A tape-delayed show will be distributed to the Regional Networks on Sunday at 11:00 am.

HYATT HITS GAME-WINNERS: Freshman Sarah Hyatt has crushed seven home runs this season, including the game-winners in two Pac-10 games. On April 5, the Huskies trailed Arizona State, 1-0 in the sixth. After a walk to Dena Tyson, Hyatt belted a two-run home run for the eventual game-winner. On April 27, Hyatt hit a walk-off three-run home run versus California in the eighth inning.

POSTSEASON TEAMS TO BE NAMED MAY 11: The at-large teams, top-eight national seeds and first-round regional pairings will be announced Sunday, May, 11, at 10 p.m. Eastern time live on ESPNEWS. The bracket, which will not be reseeded prior to the Women's College World Series, will be the first to include 64 teams, since the championship began in 1982. Last year's field included 48 teams. Twenty-six Division I conference receive an automatic berth (including the Pac-10), along with 38 at-large selections.

HUSKIES PACK THE HOUSE: The Huskies rank fourth in the country in home attendance. Washington has pulled in 8,002 fans over 11 home dates for an average of 727 fans per game. The top-three attendance schools are Fresno State (2,012), Arizona (1,408) and Texas (751). Michigan rounds out the top-5, bringing in 702 fans per game (see table, page 8).

HOME RUN HEROICS: Jaime Clark set the UW all-time home run record during her junior campaign with 44. Clark has now brought her career total to 68 home runs, which ranks fifth on the NCAA all-time chart. She is eight home runs behind No. 4-ranked Jenny Dalton (Arizona) with 76 homers.

NATIONAL TEAM CAMP INVITEES: Washington standouts Jaime Clark and Kristen Rivera are among 45 players invited to participate in a selection team camp, June 4-8, at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The players will compete for spots on two teams that will represent the United State in international competition this summer. The invite is Clark's third and Rivera's second. Clark was a member of the 2001 USA Blue National Team and Rivera was selected to the USA Elite Team last summer but declined participation due to injury.

TOP-25 FINALIST: Washington's Kristen Rivera was one of 25 finalists for the 2003 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award (considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball). The initial watch list of 40 players, which included Tia Bollinger and Jaime Clark, was shrunk to 25 players on April 9.

SAVING THE DAY: With a save versus Arizona State on April 5, junior ace Tia Bollinger became the Pac-10 and UW all-time career saves leader with 11. On April 12, Bollinger recorded her 12th career save against Oregon State, which ties for 14th on the NCAA career chart. Bollinger set the school record for single-season saves last year with seven.

WALKING THE DAWGS: The Huskies drew 10 walks off of Arizona State hurler Desiree Serrano on April 5 to just fall short of the all-time single-game UW record of 11. Washington set the record against Arizona in 1996. The Dawgs have drawn 157 walks this season while only giving up 76 free trips in 54 games. UW has three players with 20+ walks, including Dena Tyson (23), Jaime Clark (22) and Amanda Oleson (21).

BACK-TO-BACK DINGERS: Washington has hit back-to-back home runs seven times this season, using five different combinations. Kathy Fiske and Sarah Hyatt teamed up for sequential dingers against Arkansas (Feb. 14), while Fiske and Kristen Rivera hit consecutive home runs versus Portland State (Feb. 28). Rivera and Jaime Clark have gone deep back-to-back three times, including twice in the Purdue match-up (Mar. 2) and once against Temple (Feb. 24). Aimee Minor and Megan Owen hit successive shots off of Texas' Cat Osterman (Mar. 14), while batting from the eight and nine positions and most recently, Minor and Hyatt hit back-to-back shots versus Illinois (Mar. 21). All totaled, Washington has posted 16 multi-home run games with Rivera (3 vs. Purdue), Clark (2 vs. Purdue; 2 vs. Utah) and Hyatt (2 vs. North Carolina) each recording more than one home run in the same game.

A 'FRESH' START: Washington's three freshman, Sarah Hyatt, Aimee Minor and Dena Tyson, have seen significant starting time this season. Hyatt has started 53 games, including 52 at first base and one at third base. Minor has started 42 games in right field and eight as the designated player. Tyson has notched 48 starts in left field, one in centerfield and one as the designated player. The trio has amassed 38 percent of the team's doubles (24-of-64), 29 percent of the team's triples (2-of-7) and 32 percent of the team's home runs (19-of-60).

THE RUN-AROUND: With a pair of runs scored versus Hawaii on March 13, Jaime Clark became the all-time career runs leader at Washington with 190 runs scored. Her career total now stands at 211 with three regular season games remaining on the 2003 schedule.

STEALING THE SHOW:Jaime Clark is 25-for-30 in stolen base attempts this season to rank second in the Pac-10. She is now tied with Becky Newbry (1999) for the No. 10 spot on the Husky all-time season charts. The last time a Washington player stole 25+ bases was in 2000 when Rosie Leutizinger stole 29 bags in 33 attempts. Clark has tallied 72 career stolen bases, which ranks sixth on the all-time list and she needs just nine more to crack into the top-5.

As a team, the Huskies have stolen 58 bases this season, which ranks third in the Pac-10.

TAKING IT FOR THE TEAM: Washington has been hit by 43 pitches this season to tie the school's single-season record set in 2000. Aimee Minor leads the way, being hit by nine pitches, followed by Megan Owen and Kristen Rivera who have been pegged seven times.

FIVE BLASTS VS. THE BOILERMAKERS: The Huskies had a banner day versus Purdue on March 3. En route to an 11-0 romp, Washington broke two school records, including most home runs by a team (five) and most home runs by an individual with three by Kristen Rivera. Jaime Clark hit the other two home runs against the Boilermakers.

MILESTONES: Head coach Teresa Wilson has notched two milestone victories this season, including 700 career wins and 500 Washington victories. On Feb. 22, Wilson tallied her 700th career victory with a 5-2 win over No. 15 Michigan, 5-3. On March 1, Wilson recorded her 500th win at the helm of the UW softball team with a 9-0 romp over Northwestern. She now has a 729-356-1 all-time record, which ranks 16th on the active coaches' list for most victories.

USA SOFTBALL COLLEGIATE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After a record-setting performance at the Worth Invitational, Feb. 28-March 2, sophomore Kristen Rivera was selected as the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week and Pac-10 Player of the Week on March 4.

Rivera led the Huskies to five wins at the Worth Invitational and the unofficial tournament title as she hit .571 (8-for-14) over the five game stretch with a double, four home runs and 12 RBIs. Against Purdue, she hit three home runs in three at-bats to set a Washington record and tallied five RBIs.

She also went 2-for-3 against both Pacific and Northwestern with two runs scored and six RBIs combined. Rivera drew two walks over the course of the tournament and did not strikeout. Behind the plate, she was flawless with a perfect fielding percentage and threw out the only base runner that attempted to steal.

The Huskies have been ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Top 25 poll in each of the last 124 poll datings. Washington's streak began with the team's No. 15 preseason ranking in 1994 and also includes smaller streaks of 66 straight top 6 rankings (2/28/96 - preseason 2001 poll) and 69 consecutive poll datings in the top 10 (preseason 1996 - 2/28/01).

Overall, the Huskies have remained in the top 15 in each of the last 107 poll datings, a streak that began with the preseason poll in 1996. Washington also fell two positions in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate top 25 poll to No. 7.

PAC-10 HONORS: Kristen Rivera has received Pac-10 Player of the Week honors twice this season. Her first weekly award was on March 4 for her .571 showing (8-for-14) at the Worth Invitational. The weekend was highlighted by her three home run performance versus Purdue, which set a Husky single-game record. Rivera also received the award on March 25 for leading the Huskies to the Capital Classic title with a .471 (8-for-17) average. Over the five games, she hit two doubles, two home runs and drove in eight RBIs.

Tia Bollinger was selected as the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week on March 4 after a 3-0 mark at the Worth Invitational, Feb. 28-March 2. She gave up just 10 hits total, shutout Northwestern and allowed no earned runs in four innings of work against Purdue. Bollinger rung up 14 batters in 16 innings for a team-low 0.44 ERA and allowed only one run in three appearances. She limited No. 20 Ohio State to three hits and Purdue to only two.

CAPITAL CLASSIC CHAMPIONS: Washington won the Capital Classic championship with a perfect 4-0 record (Mar. 21-23). The Huskies defeated host Sac State, Illinois, Morehead State and Utah to be the only team to finish the tourney with an unblemished record. UW out scored its opponents 27-9 en route to the tournament title. Rita Roach was named to the all-tournament team as she led the squad with a .583 (7-for-12) average and six runs scored. Dena Tyson also led UW from the plate, hitting .545 (6-for-11), including a double and two home runs. The weekend was highlighted by Ashley's Boek's no-hitter over Morehead State (Mar. 22). It marked the second no-hitter for Boek and the 21st in Washington history.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN: The 16-player Washington roster includes 13 returning letterwinners and eight returning starters. The 2003 team includes six juniors, five sophomores, three freshmen and two seniors. Nine players hail from California, six from Washington and one from Oregon.

PERFECT AT NFCA LEADOFF CLASSIC: Despite rain that cancelled bracket play at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, Washington did play and sweep its three scheduled pool games. The Huskies defeated No. 16 South Carolina 2-1, No. 15 Michigan 5-3 and Temple 4-3 to win Pool 6. Kathy Fiske and Kristen Rivera were named to the all-tournament team for their tremendous efforts at the plate and on defense.

Fiske went 6-for-10 (.600) with a .900 slugging percentage. She drove in both of Washington's runs in the 2-1 win over No. 16 South Carolina, going 2-for-3 with a double. She followed up that performance with a 3-for-4 showing in the 5-3 win over No. 15 Michigan, including a double and three runs scored. Fiske finished the tournament going 1-for-3 with another double in UW's 4-3 win over Temple. She was perfect from the field, making 8-of-8 plays from third base.

Rivera, Washington designated player and catcher, hit .625 (5-for-8) with a 1.000 slugging percentage. She was 2-for-5 against South Carolina and Michigan, while also drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch. Against Temple, Rivera went 3-for-3, driving in two runs and hitting a solo home run in the 4-3 victory.

Washington was one of only three teams to have two players named to the all-tournament team, joining Stanford and tournament champion Massachusetts.

CHEVRON PARADISE CLASSIC CHAMPIONS: Washington opened the 2003 season with a perfect 6-0 record to win the Hawaii Chevron Paradise Classic in Honolulu, Feb. 6-9. After rain halted play on Feb. 6, the Huskies notched a pair of extra-inning wins against Santa Clara 3-2 and Oklahoma State 5-4 on Feb. 7. UW followed up with victories against Louisville 7-4 and host Hawaii 3-2 to earn the No. 1 seed for Sunday's single elimination bracket. The Huskies defeated Santa Clara in the first round 7-5 and topped Oklahoma State 3-2 to claim the tournament championship.

Sophomore Kristen Rivera was named Most Outstanding Player of the Hawaii Chevron Paradise Classic for her .476 performance at the plate, while sophomore Ashley Boek received Most Outstanding Pitcher honors after picking up three wins and a save. Also named to the all-tournament team were sophomore third baseman Kathy Fiske and junior centerfielder Rita Roach who hit .429 and .350, respectively.